Apparatus for cleaning revolving-flat carding machines



C. GGAUFF ET AL Feb. 7, 192s. l 1,658,714

Armnus von chaume aEvoLvInG FLAT mmm ncamns Filed 'nay 1o. 1924 Patented Feb. 7, 1928.

UNITED retain CHARLES GG-AUFF AND JULES FFLMLN, F MULHOUSE, FRANCE.

Application led May 10 1921i, Serial No. 7153,373, and. in France May 24, 1923.

This invention relates to revolving-fiat carding engines for carding vegetablefibre such as cotton, and more particularly it relates Vto improved means for obtaining a very much cleaner and, therefore, an (limproved and better product thanheretcrore.

As is well known to those skilled in the art, vegetable fibre as it is fed to the card contains much dirt and other impurities which, notwithstanding` the functions of the lickerin and mote knife to clean the fibre, are. carried during the operation of the card on to the surface of the main cylinder. After a time so much of this dirt becomes lodged deep in" the cylinder clothing where it cannot be removed by the revolving-fiat, that the carding engine must be stopped to remove the impurities, or for stripping as it is called by the trade. In the mean time, however, owing to the varying degree of cleanliness of the .fibre on the main cylinder during the working period, varying quantities of the impurities are transferred by the doffer to the product with the result that the product is not uniform. ln practice it has been found necessary to strip revolving flat top carding engines, that have i no mechanical means for doing away with the impurities, by hand or otherwise about everyl two to four hours. llihe highest degree of purity of the product is attained justafter the cylinder and doffer have been stripped and its purity decreases considerably toward theend of the working period. During the period required for stripping, the card is not producing which is a serious disadvantage.

Efforts have been made to obtain a constant degree of purity of the product by the provision of mechanical devices which it was hoped would automatically clean the main cylinder while operating and thus prevent loss of production by forced stoppage for stripping. These have taken the form of a clothed roller having a higher pe.: "Vpheral speed than the cylinder, which consequently acts as a brush. Such a device has been tried, without appreciable benefit, either between the rear end of the revolvingfiat and the doffer or below the main cylinder between `the doifer and the lickerin. When the so-called cleaning roller is lo cated in the first-named position, i, e. in front of the doffer, the impurities lodged in the cylinder clothing as hereinbefore described are loosened to such an extent that much of this impure material is carried into the carded product by the doifer. W hen this roller is located in the secondnamed position, i. e. behind the dofi'er, then it still permits the transfer of impurities from the main cylinder to the product and functions to clean from the cylinder clothing merely what impurities may be left therein after the doffer has done its work. Accordingly, the provision of such a cleaning roller as just described does not avoid the eventual necessity of periodical shut-downs of the card for stripping the main cylinder and doffer of the impurities that have lodged in the clothing thereof.

The object of the present invention is to provide a mechanical cleaning device that will maintain the impure cotton fibre, as it is delivered to the main cylinder by the lickerin, in such an incompact condition and in such a position on the wires of the main cylinder clothing that the revolving-flat may properly and efiiciently perform its function of removing the impurities and thus cause the cai-ding engine continuously to deliver a uniform product having the highest degree of purity.

ln order to attaint-his object it has been found essential to locate the mechanical cleaning device at a point with relation to the main cylinder where the impure fibre delivered to the said cylinder can not eventually find its way to the doiier and thence to the product. Accordingly this invention contemplates a cleaning device located between the lickerin and the forward end of the revolving-flat since, when in this position with relation to the main cylinder the impurities if removed from the cylinder are thrown back by the device upon the outerends of the wires of the cylinder clothing where they can readily be seized and carried away'by the flats. Due to the location of the cleaning device adjacent the forward end of the revolving flat, the working flats seize the impurities in the fibre directly after the nbre has been. aced upon by the cleaning device and before there is an opportunity for the impurities to become lodged at the bases of the wires forming the cylinder clothing. 'lhe device functions an agitator to maintain the libre at the outer ends of the cylinder needles prior to its passage to the revolving-flat. Thus. the libre that is carried beyond the revolving-Hat for the doi?H ting action of the doiler has had the dirt and impurities 'l'ully removed by the working flats and only clean and useful libre goes into the product. Furthermoreg a carding engine provided vvith our novel cleaning; device may be run continuously Without stopping production for stripping or 'jor grinding', an advantage recognized by cotton textile Infuni'iacturcrs as oi the greatest importance.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing` object, the invention comprises the features and combinations of parts hereinafter described and then particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

The features and scope ot the invention will best be understood trein a description ot the preferred embodiments thereof illustrated in the accompanying' drawings, in which:

Figure l. is a vievv, in longitudinal section, of a revolvingjdiat cardine' engine provided with our novel mechanical cleaning device;

F 2 and 3 shovv a cross-section and elevation respectively ot one form of the cleaning device g` Figs. land 5 are like views ot another forni ol the cleaning' device;

Figs. G and 7 are like views of still another forni the cleaningr device may take;

Figs. 8 and 9 are like views illustrating a Atourth forni of thc cleaning device;

Figs. l0 and ll are like views showing' a iifth torni oi the cleaning device; and

12 is a view in detail ol the construction of the teeth ot the coinb used on certain ot the cleaning device types.

rlhe preiierred cleaning device comprises clothing, in the forni o'li comb-teeth or needles. of the kind shown in Figs. l() and l2, mounted on a rotatable nieinber in separated groups as illustrated by Fig. 5. lVhile this construction is preferred other etl'ective cleaning devices may be produced by vari ousconibinations and arrangements Within the skill of' the artisan, the present. invcntion not. being so much concerned with this detail as vvith the broad principle of a mechanical cleaning` device, for revolvingflat cardine; engines for cai-ding cotton or like vegetable libre, so located with relation to the inain cylinder and the revolving-flat thatV dirt and other impurities are eliectually separated troni the `rood libre and the inain cylinder clothing is left With only pure fibre thereon When said tlbre iilled clothing reaches the doffer.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figs. l, 5, l0 and l2 ot the drawings, A is the main cylinder ot a revolving-flat carding engine, ll is the lickerin, G is the revolving-flat, and I is the doii'er. All of these parts may be constructed in accordance with approved practice for carding cotton or like vegetable libre, and combined therewith are the usual and necessary features of cotton cards, some o't` which are indicated in Fig. l as Will be recognized by those who are familiar with cotton inill machinery.

is shown by Fig'. l, between the lickerin B and forward end of the revolving-flat G We have provided a cleaning device in the torni ot' a shaft- D provided with a` support :tor an arrangement of wire teeth C, which in the preferred form are bent at a reverse angle to the angle of the `Wires forming the clothing; ot the inain cylinder A (see Fig.

'10) and are of such length, compared to the distance that the shalt D is spaced troni the cylinder il, that they interniesh with the cylinder clothing (see Fig. l) as the cleaning' device and cylinder are revolved in opposite directions. Thus at the 'tan- `jent zone the tivo surfaces are moving in the saine direction. As indicated by the arrows on Fig. l the inain cylinder rotates in a clockwise direction and the cleaning device rotates in a contrasclockyvise direction. The working-flats travel over and along the upper portion ot the inain cylinder in the saine direction as that of 'the circun'ilerential 'iafe of the cylinder which they overlie, as is usual in engines for carding cotton and like .'enetable libre.

illust ated by Figs. 2 to ll the cleaning device may take several forms. In Figs. Q to 5 inclusive the teeth C are straight and project radially :trom a supporting: har C2 on the shaft D. forming;` a cornb.I Fig. 5 ditiers from Fig. 3 only in that theteeth of the coinb are not continuous, gaps E being provided at intervals along the shaft. C? in these Ytour figures represents a counterweight.

The construction of the cleaning; device illustrated by Figs. (l to 9 inclusive shows relatively short wire teeth F secured on the circumferential surface ot a roll K. mounted on the shaft D, said roll having a correspondingly large diameter so that the ends of the wires will sweep through a circular path ot the saine diameter asi that of the teeth C. Fig'. 9 difl'ers troni Fig. 'T in that the wires F take the `forni ot a series oi. tufts arranged in a spiral about the roll K.

The preferred forni of wire teeth and their mountingr on the shaft D is illustrated by Fig. 10 and in enlargement by Fig. l2. The teeth C (Fig. 12) are constituted by flat Wires Whose extremity is twisted 90 and 'bent at an oblique angle to the shank portion. The point may he hardened. The shanks of the teeth are held in a har L 'lastened just above the bent knee ot a metal rail L secured lengthwise of the bar C on the shalt D. The bent wires C bear normally Intl against the free edge of the railL, the line of contact being just outward of the knees of the bent wires, but they can yield rearwardly as they engage and pass through the clothing of the main cylinderI il. On springing back they are arrested by the rail L and thus vibration is prevented. lThe wire teeth C may form a continuous comb across the cleaning rollers, as illustrated by Fig. ll, but we prefer the discontinuous arrangement illustrated by Fig'. 5.

In any of the illustrated forms the wire teeth of the cleaning device may be either straight or bent as in F ig. 10 and their points may be radially directed or more or less inclined. rlhe cross-section of the teeth may be round or flat, and they may have conical points.

While we have termed the device C-D a cleaning device for want of a better descriptive term, it .does not, by its own operation, actually clean the main cylinder clothing. Our cleaning' device does not perform the function of a hand stripper because no cotton is removed by it from the main cylinder clothing. What our cleaning device does is to take the cotton libre, while in its `impure condition as it lies in the clothing of the main cylinder just after delivery thereto by the lickerin, and lift this cotton fibre up through the wires or needles of the cylinder clothing, between which it has become pinched, so that it will lic at the outer surface of the cylinder clothing when brought by the rotation of the cylinder Within the range of operation of the working flats. In operating a cotton car-ding engine that does not have our cleaning device there is probably three times as much cotton on the clothing of the main cylinder, as it travels beneath the working flats, as there is when our cleaning device is used. This means that the cotton becomes packed in the cylinder clothing, the pure libre with the impure libre, in a mixture from the impurities cannot be seg'- regated by the revolving-fiat. Consequently much impure fibre passes to the product through the operation of the doden A cotton card having our cleaning device combined with the lickerin and revolving-flat, as hereinbefore described, functions to maintain the cotton in an incompact condition at the outer surface of the cylinder clothing while it approaches the forward end of the revolving-flat and enables the working flats thereof to efficiently perform their function of removing the impurities.

l'Che invention may be applied to cornpound carding` engines with both revolvingflat and roller cards,y the cleaning device being arranged as heretofore described between the lickerin and the forward end of the revolving-flat.

The nature and scope of the present invention having been indicated and its preferred embodiment having been specifically described, what we claim as new, is zk l. In combination with a carding engine for cotton and like vegetable fibre of the type having a lickerin, main cylinder, revolving-fiat, and doffer, a rotary cleaning device having teeth each bent to form a knee and being mounted for engagemen'4 with the cylinder clothing so that while engaging therewith the knees point in the same direction as those of the teeth forming the cylinder clothing, and means for supporting said device for working on said main cylinder between the lickerin and the forward end of the ievolvingtlat, said device and cylinder being rotated'in opposite directions.

2. In combination with a carding engine for cotton and like vegetable fibre of the type having a lickerin, main cylinder, revolving-flat, and doer, al rotary cleaning device having comb-like teeth working on the main cylinder and disposed between the lickerin and the forward end of the revolv ing-flat, and means carried bycsaid device for damping vibration of the free ends of said teeth.

3. In combination with a carding engine for cotton and like vegetable libre of the type having a lickerin, main cylinder, revolving-flat, and doffer, a rotary cleaning device working on the main cylinder and disposed between the lickerin and the forward end of the revolving-flat having teeth that interengage with the teeth of the cyl inder clothing.

ln combination with a carding engine for cotton and like vegetable fibre of the type having a lickerin, main cylinder, re volving-flat, and dofler, a cleaning device disposed between the lickerin and the forward end of the revolving-flat adapted to work upon the fibre on the cylinder clothing and maintain it at the outer surface thereof for seizure by the working flats.

5. In an engine for carding cotton and like vegetable fibre, a rotary cleaning device for working on the main cylinder, having long, fiat, resilient tonguedike teeth, the outer ends of which are rectangularly twisted with respect to their shanks.

6. ln an engine for carding cotton and like vegetable fibre, a rotary cleaning device for working on the main cylinder comprising a shaft, a support on the shaft., arail secured lengh-twise of the support, and bent teeth secured to said rail and engaging the edge of the rail along a line just outward of the bends in said teeth.

7. A. carding engine for cotton and like vegetable fibre comprising a main cylinder and the following devices cooperating with said cylinder and arranged about said cyl inder in the sequence named, first a lickerin, then a rotary cleaning device, and then a revolving flat.

8. The method of producing a subStantially pure product from carded cotton or like vegetable libre which consists in 1feeding the impure cotton to the clothing oi the 5 main cylinder oi' a .revolving-flat cotton carding engine, maintaining said cotton While `still charged with impurities at the outer `surface of said cylinder clothing until carried to Vthe Working alts, removinur the mpuri-ies by operation of the revovng 10 flat, and finally doing the cleaned cotton which remains on the c lnder clothing after passing the revolving at.

CHARLES GGAUFF JULES PFLIMLIN. 

